


some things never change (like how i'm holding on tight to you.)

by agr130



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Drabbles, F/M, Fluff, Injury, One Shot, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24245092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agr130/pseuds/agr130
Summary: Jake & Amy + seasons.Snapshots of Jake & Amy's life as a married couple in fall, winter, spring, and summer.Lots of fluff.
Relationships: Jake Peralta & Amy Santiago, Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Rosa Diaz & Jake Peralta
Comments: 6
Kudos: 69





	some things never change (like how i'm holding on tight to you.)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Frozen 2 because it is one of the best Disney movie soundtracks and that is the hill I will die on.  
> Thank you all for the love on my last post! It means so much to me that people are reading and enjoying my writing.  
> I hope you all enjoy this story!

**Fall**

Just as a November chill had settled into the Brooklyn air, an awful cold had settled into Jake’s head, leaving him unable to breathe anytime he was not sitting up at a 90 degree angle. 

He had very unwillingly stayed home from work, only giving in when he stood up from bed and got so dizzy that he had to sit back down. Amy had checked his temperature, exclaimed, “102?!” and started rummaging through the medicine cabinet. 

After she gave him medicine and left a tray of breakfast on his bedside table, she promised she would text him throughout the day and go to the store and the deli after work to get more medicine and some soup. 

So Jake was left alone most of the day, wrapped in blankets and misery. He turned into a “big baby,” as Amy put it, (albeit lovingly) when he was sick, and he really couldn’t deny it. He slept for most of the morning, and well into the afternoon, and was just about to replay Die Hard for the third time when Amy walks through the door, nose red from the bitter wind, and carrying plastic bags.

She sets them down on the coffee table and immediately presses a hand to her husband’s forehead. “Hey. You’re warm. Have you taken any medicine recently?”

“No. I haven’t moved from the couch in hours. The whole back of me is numb.”

“Jake! That’s not good for you. Have you eaten anything?” Amy asks, concern growing over her face.

“No. Don’t yell at me, I don’t feel good,” Jake frowns, tucking the blanket tighter around himself. 

“I know, I’m sorry babe.” Amy runs a hand up and down his arm. “Do you need anything?”

He nods. “For you to dress up like a sexy nurse.”

“Jake. Besides that.”

“Fine, Advil please. And soup?” 

“Of course,” Amy says, running a hand through his hair and giving him a quick kiss.

“Ames, as much as it actually pains me to say this, you probably shouldn’t kiss me. I don’t want you to get sick,” Jake calls to her as she takes the bags into the kitchen. 

“I have a great immune system. The doctor said it was, and I quote, ‘above average.’ So I’ll be okay,” She explains as she pours Jake’s favorite chicken noodle soup into a bowl, and shakes out a couple of pills from the Advil bottle. 

She sits next to him on the couch as he eats soup, and doesn’t complain when he pushes play on the remote and she has to sit through Die Hard for what feels like the 400th time since they’ve gotten married. 

By the time the credits are rolling, there’s tissues all over the table in front of them, and Jake has fallen asleep against Amy’s shoulder. She gently shakes him awake and guides him to bed, tucking him under the covers and kissing his forehead. Even though he’s feverish and snotty, Amy can’t help but think how he’s still adorable, and she can’t resist falling asleep close to him. She knows there’s a possibility that she could get sick, but she still has faith in her above average immune system. 

But, apparently above average does not equate to invincible, and the next day she finds herself next to Jake on the couch. The tissues have multiplied, and the leftover soup from yesterday that Amy had heated up remains untouched, neither of them having any sort of appetite. 

Amy blows her nose, and winces at the way her head pounds. 

“This is all your fault Peralta,” She groans, flopping back against the couch.

“Hey, I told you not to kiss me,” Jake says.

“Well, it’s your fault that your face is so kissable even when you’re sick.”

Jake just smiles. “Well, look at the bright side. Now we can kiss each other as much as we want.”

“That’s true,” Amy says, and turns to kiss him. “But, because you got me sick, I get to pick the movie.” 

“Ames, just please don’t pick the documentary on-”

“Helvetica?” She finishes for him. “That’s exactly what I was going to pick.” 

Jake bites back a groan as he thinks about all the times she’s watched Die Hard, and realizes that he can probably watch this font documentary for the 3rd time. At least if he falls asleep, he can blame it on the fever. 

Amy nestles into him as the movie starts and sighs happily as he begins to play with her hair. 

“You know, if I’m gonna be sick, I’m glad it’s with you,” Jake expresses, in a voice that has become very congested from laying too far down.

“Back at you, babe,” Amy says. “I guess this is what they mean when they say in sickness and in health.”

“I guess so,” He laughs.

“Love you,” Amy whispers, sleep already beginning to tug at her eyelids.

“Love you,” Jake echoes.

In sickness and in health, and for better or for worse, Amy and Jake are all in. They were both aware in that moment, in the last few minutes before they fell asleep, that they were grateful to be together right now. Even amidst the piles of tissues and the bottles of Advil and tubs of Vicks, they had a lot of love for each other.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Winter**

Every morning, Amy wakes up to the sound of her alarm clock. She’s always bright eyed and ambitious and full of energy from the moment she hears the beeping. 

Jake, however, does not share his wife’s enthusiasm for waking up. After Amy kisses him good morning and heads into the shower, he lays in bed as long as he possibly can, staring at the ceiling. 

Followed by having breakfast together, it had sort of become their routine. Which is why, when Amy wakes up one cold and frosty morning to Jake shaking her shoulder and saying her name, she’s confused.

“Amy!”

She opens her eyes, blinks a few times, and responds with a sleepy, “What?”

“Wake up!” Jake says, smiling and rubbing her arm gently. 

“What’s wrong? Why are you up before the alarm?” Amy asks, confused, and a little concerned at the fact that her husband is up and full of energy so early on a day off.

“I had an idea.”   
“Your idea woke you up?”

“Yeah! My mind is pretty amazing, right?”

Amy laughs and shakes her head in disbelief. She sits up, turns so she’s face to face with Jake, kisses him and asks, “What was your idea, weirdo?”

“We should go ice skating,” He declares.

“Ice skating?” 

Jake nods. “It’s Christmas Eve Eve, and it’s our day off. It’s snowing outside, but just a little bit. It’s cold, but it’s kind of sunny so it won’t be too cold. It’s the perfect day to do this!”

Amy groans a little. “Jake, I don’t know. It’s going to be so crowded, and I hate the cold, and I haven’t gone ice skating since I was little. Do you even know how to ice skate?”

“Definitely not. But we can learn! That’s the fun part.”

Amy sighs, and drops her head onto his shoulder so it’s resting against his old police academy t-shirt. 

“C’mon, Ames. It’ll be so romantic. We’ve been so busy lately, we haven’t gone on an actual date in a long time. And when we do, we usually end up talking about cases.”

“I thought we both agreed that solving crime is romantic.” 

“It is! It’s romantic as hell. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a break from all the dead body stuff for a little while?” He asks, and he’s looking at her with his messy, morning curls and big doe eyes and she can’t really say no.

“Okay, fine,” She agrees. “But you have to hold my hand the whole time. And we’re getting hot chocolate afterwards.”

“Deal,” Jake smiles. 

They both stay in bed for a little bit longer and cuddle, because despite Jake’s burst of energy, he’s never going to not cuddle with his wife. They lay back down, and Amy wraps her arms around his middle, tucking her head under his chin. He runs a hand up and down her back, against the soft fabric of her button down pajama top with the matching bottoms, and secretly one of Jake’s favorite things about his wife are the matching pajama sets she always wears.

He makes pancakes eventually, once they somewhat begrudgingly drag themselves out from the warmth of their comforter. He’s thankful that she’s finally agreed to let him do most of, if not all of, the cooking. It took too many fire alarms going off for her to finally agree. 

They get dressed afterward, and Jake smirks as he watches her put on a long sleeve shirt, a sweater on top of that, a heavy coat, and a scarf. 

“It’s going to be cold,” She frowns.

“If we’re skating fast enough we’ll stay plenty warm!” Jake exclaims.

Turns out, they don’t skate anywhere close to fast.

They’re both like baby deer on the ice, Amy clutching onto the wall and Jake clutching onto her hand. There’s so many people zipping effortlessly past them, some significantly older and some significantly younger and it’s honestly a little insulting. The snow is starting to fall a little bit harder than earlier, and the flakes falling in their eyes are kind of distracting and they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing.

They’re not really ice skating, more so ice shuffling. It’s been five minutes and they haven’t even made it around the rink all the way. Amy’s shivering despite the layers she has on and Jake is starting to glare at all the 8 year olds he sees skating backwards and doing spins.

“Okay, so maybe this wasn’t my best idea,” Jake admits. 

“Babe, no, it was a great idea.” Amy squeezes his hand, immediately going into protective wife mode when she hears the disappointment in his voice. “What if we just… try gliding a little bit more. Like everyone else is doing.”

They both start to push their feet out a little bit more, making longer strides instead of the terrified shuffling they were doing earlier, and it’s working. After a few minutes Amy cautiously lets go of the wall, and they start to pick up speed. The sun comes out from behind a cloud, and Amy sighs contently at the way it warms her rosy cheeks. She finally looks up from her feet, and she takes in the lights and the Christmas wreaths that surround them, and she hears “Deck the Halls” playing through the speakers and it’s magical, and okay- maybe this is kind of fun. 

“Jake, we’re doing it! We’re actually ice skating!” She smiles.

“We are!” He exclaims. “I guess it’s not that hard when you-” 

His sentence is cut off when Amy loses her footing, lets go of his hand, and tumbles onto the ice, the majority of her fall being caught with her right arm. 

“Shit. Ames, are you okay?” Jake asks, slowly and carefully bending down.

She’s muttering curses in Spanish and clutching her arm and Jake takes that as a no. 

“Jake, I think it might be broken,” Amy grimaces, searing pain building in her wrist.

“I think you’re right, c’mon. Let’s get you to the hospital,” He says gently, helping her up.

They slowly, very slowly, make their way back to the entrance of the rink and Amy’s grasping Jake’s hand very tightly, while cradling her broken arm to her chest. 

After a long wait in the emergency room, and an even longer wait to get x-rays, the doctor comes into the exam room and confirms that Amy’s wrist is indeed broken. 

“You’ll need to wear a cast for 6 weeks. And be extra careful, no more ice skating,” He explains.

“Don’t worry,” Amy laughs. She’s not planning on stepping foot inside of an ice skating rink, or even a roller skating rink, ever again.

“I’ll go get a cast to wrap your wrist with. Hang tight. Thanks for your patience.” 

The doctor disappears again, and Jake stands, remembering something Amy had said earlier. 

“I’ll be right back. Will you be okay?” He asks.

She nods, snuggling further inside Jake’s jacket that he had draped over her.

When he comes back, Amy has a white cast on her wrist, and she looks pale and miserable and she’s still shivering, but Jake can’t help notice how beautiful she still looks, even beneath the harsh fluorescent lights. 

“He’s just getting the discharge papers. Then we can go,” She explains. 

He nods, and holds out a white paper cup to her. 

“I promised you hot chocolate earlier. It’s from the cafeteria, so it’s not as good as the Polish place but… still warm,” He shrugs, taking a sip from his own cup. 

“Thank you babe,” She says as she accepts the cup and kisses him on the cheek. 

He climbs onto the small bed that she’s sitting on, and she immediately rests her head in the crook of his neck.

“Ames, I’m so sorry. I feel like this is my fault. I just wanted to do something special and romantic. And now you’re broken.”

Amy chuckles in spite of herself. “I’m not broken, babe. It’s just my wrist, and it’ll heal. Besides, cheesy, Hallmark romance stuff just doesn’t work for us. We’re not that couple. Crazy stuff seems to follow us. I mean, just take our wedding, for example.”

Jake nods, thinking back to the bomb threat and how everything that could have possibly gone wrong, went wrong.

“I just want to be with you Jake. I don’t care what we’re doing. I just love being around you. It doesn’t need to be traditional romance. Every single day that I get to be married to you is like a dream,” She cups his face with her non-casted hand and runs her thumb over his cheek.

“Yeah?” He asks, meeting her sparkling eyes with his own.

“Yeah.”

“Merry Christmas, Ames.”

“Merry Christmas, Jake.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Spring**

“NYPD, freeze! Put your hands where I can see them!” Jake says, pointing his gun at the tall, brown haired man standing in front of him. 

He grunts, but puts his hands in the air, while Rosa searches through the messenger bag slung over his shoulder. 

“Jake,” She says, tilting the bag to reveal that it was full of cocaine. 

There had been a recent drug ring that came to light, and Rosa and Jake had finally gotten a lead, after working on the case all day, and as made evident by the rather alarming amount of cocaine in the bag, the lead had been correct. 

Rosa handcuffs him, reads him the Miranda Rights, and as they’re hauling him back to the squad car, something small and furry catches Jake’s eye in an alley. 

“Rosa, wait,” He insists 

She stops, assuming he’s seen something suspicious, and watches carefully as he disappears into the alley. 

He carefully climbs over boxes and trash cans, and from behind an old plastic crate, a kitten pops out, letting out a quiet meow. 

“Jake, what’s going on?” Rosa calls. 

“Hang on,” He calls back, carefully reaching out a hand to the tiny creature. The kitten carefully sniffs him, and then nuzzles his hand, and Jake feels his heart actually disintegrate inside of his chest.

“Hey there,” He speaks softly. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I just want to help you get somewhere safe.”

The kitten walks closer to him, and doesn’t protest when Jake carefully picks it up, cradling the small ginger colored animal in his arms as he walks back to Rosa.

“What the hell? Is that a cat?” She asks. 

“Why, yes, Rosa. Yes it is. A plus detective skills,” He grins.

“Why do you have it?” 

“I saw it out of the corner of my eye, and it’s so small, and it meowed! It looks lonely.” Jake explains.

“Okay, whatever. C’mon,” Rosa shakes her head in disbelief. 

“You know the cat is coming with, right?” 

“Yeah, I know. Just get in the car.” 

The perp is processed and placed in a holding cell, and Jake is packing up his stuff to go home while trying to inconspicuously hide the kitten in one of his open desk drawers.

Rosa approaches his desk, eyes immediately drawn to the kitten in a drawer, and smirks. 

“Are you going to take it home?”

“Yeah. I think we’re kind of becoming best friends.” The kitten meows at that moment, and Jake smiles. “See? She agrees.”

“How’s Amy going to feel about that?”

“Great! She’ll feel great,” Jake says with fake confidence, knowing full well that his wife is not an animal person. 

Rosa squints at him. “Okay, sure. See you tomorrow.”

Just as Rosa suspected, Amy does not feel great about the whole kitten thing. 

She’s already home by the time Jake walks through the front door, and she’s sitting on the couch, on the phone ordering take out. All the windows are open, because it’s May and it’s finally starting to feel warm outside. The flowers are starting to bloom and trees finally have their bright green leaves back, and even though it’s 7 PM the sun is still out, and the apartment is enveloped in a golden glow. There’s a warm breeze and the sounds of the city are mixing with Amy’s voice as she orders their dinner. 

She hangs up, and turns around, ready to greet her husband, but stops short when she sees what’s in his arms.

“Surprise,” He offers.

“Um, Jake. What do you got there?” She asks, trying her best to remain calm. 

“Babe, please don’t be mad. I found her in an alley today. She was lonely and scared and she needs someone to take care of her. Look how cute she is!” 

Amy sighs. “I mean, yeah she’s cute, but-”

“I already made a vet appointment tomorrow so she can get all her shots. I’m planning on going to the store soon for food and litter. Also, her name is Holly.”

“Alright, fine. But I’m not happy about it. And, she’s all yours. Don’t expect me to like, take her on walks or anything,” Amy insists, eyeing Holly suspiciously. She just really is not an animal person. 

“Ames, you don’t walk a cat,” Jake says. 

Amy waves him off and turns her attention to the TV. 

For the first week, her attitude toward their new roommate pretty much remained the same. It’s not that Amy hated animals, per say, she just didn’t necessarily want one living in her house. But as days passed, and Holly greeted them with squeaky meows in the morning, and snuggled against Jake’s chest while they watched Jeopardy, Amy found herself warming up to the kitten. 

One Sunday evening, as the springtime sun is setting, Jake comes home from picking up a pizza to find Amy asleep in her reading nook chair, the book that she was reading laying open on the table next to her, with Holly curled up in her lap. 

Jake is very amused by this, and quickly snaps a picture, before gently shaking her awake.

“Ames, pizza’s here,” He says, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

“Oh, thanks babe.”

“So, uh, what is this about that cat being ‘all mine?’” Jake smirks.

Amy’s cheeks turn a little pink, as she absent mindedly strokes Holly and shrugs. “So… I might have misjudged her. She’s really cute. And a great reading companion. And the sound of her purring is so relaxing.”

“Oh my God, right? It’s like a white noise machine.” 

“I’m glad we got her,” Amy admits. “And I’m glad you wanted to give her a safe home. That was really sweet of you babe.”

“I love you,” Jake says. 

“I love you,” Amy repeats.

And from that point on, Amy finally let Holly sleep in their bed. The tiny ball of fur would snuggle into the soft blanket at the end of the bed, curling up right next to their feet. And Amy felt very lucky that she got to fall asleep every night with the two cutest things in the world in her bed.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Summer**

“I don’t think I have ever said this before, but it’s so hot,” Amy breathes, flipping her pillow over to the other side for what was probably the 13th time that night. 

“I can’t tell if the open windows are making it worse or better,” Jake says, wiping sweat from his forehead.

The air conditioning in their apartment had chosen a sweltering July day to break, and their landlord said it would be at least 2 days before he could send anyone to fix it. The morning had been okay; they took showers a little less hot than normal, drank their coffee iced, and felt like maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. But when they got home from work the air was humid, and they both began sweating within minutes of walking through the door. Even Amy, who was cold 99.9% of the time, felt the back of her neck grow sticky. 

They had opted for room temperature, borderline cold showers, and got into bed in tank tops and shorts, which didn’t stay on long, nor did the sheets, nor did their underwear. 

They both lay on top of their comforter, naked, and sweating, even beneath the whir of their ceiling fan. 

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to fall asleep,” Amy sighs, switching on the lamp next to her, and sitting up. 

“Yeah, me either. I think I finally understand what a rotisserie chicken feels like,” Jake says. 

They sit in silence for a few minutes, too hot to even cuddle, listening to the cars driving past outside their window. 

“Let’s go to the beach,” Jake speaks suddenly. 

“What?” Amy asks.

“‘The beach! Let’s go!” 

“Babe, it’s 11 pm.”

“But the beach will have more of a breeze, and the water will be chilly and it’ll cool us off. We aren’t going to sleep anyways,” Jake says, already getting off the bed and rummaging through his drawers for clothes.

Amy pauses for a minute, but then shrugs. “Okay, sure.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, what the hell. Let’s go to the beach,” She smiles.

Five years ago Amy could have never imagined taking an after dark beach trip just because her air conditioning was out. But Jake Peralta had a way of getting her out of her shell. He always knew how to convince her to be adventurous, and she always ended up having fun, even when she thought she wouldn’t. There was something about him that made her feel brave and spontaneous in ways that she never used to feel.

30 minutes later, after they threw on some clothes, put towels and snacks in the car, and Jake gave Holly a kiss between her ears and promised that they would be back, they were sitting underneath the moonlight, listening to the tide crash onto the sand.

“This is so much better than our apartment,” Amy sighs happily, leaning into Jake, finally not sweating for the first time in hours. 

“Agreed,” Jake says, kissing the side of her head and wrapping an arm around her. 

It was just the two of them on the beach, sitting on a big towel and sharing a bag of potato chips. It was still warm, but not the heat that was so palpable in their apartment. It was a nice kind of warmth, like the kind from a campfire or a soft blanket. There was a breeze, which helped, and as the tide got closer, droplets of sea foam would gently spray their faces. 

“Look how big the ocean is,” Amy points out, staring into the dark mass of water. “I mean, the horizon goes out so far, and that’s just what we can see.”

“Is it existential crisis hour?” Jake asks.

“No,” Amy laughs. “I just mean… The universe is big. Out of all the places we could have ended up, out of all the ways our lives could have gone... somehow we found each other. Somehow everything worked out so perfectly that we got to be together. I don’t know if I believe in soulmates, or fate, or the stars aligning or whatever but… I just know that I’m really glad to have you.”

Jake’s eyes are suddenly a little misty, and not just from the breeze and ocean combination.

“Ames,” He starts. “I love you. I still can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with someone as amazing as you.”

“I love you,” Amy breathes, meeting his lips with a kiss and wrapping her arms tightly around him. 

The crashing of the waves against the shore fill the silence, and in each other’s arms, they both gaze out into the sea, thinking about how incredibly lucky they are to have found each other. 

  
  



End file.
